Before He Cheats
| "Before He Cheats" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Before He Cheats" is the fifth single released from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts.
Mainstream
"Before He Cheats" garnered interest on the Internet, as it appeared in both the "Top 10 Pop Songs" and the "Top 10" songs on iTunes. This song also proved to be a cross-over hit by peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, which makes this Underwood's fifth consecutive top 50 entry and third top 20 hit.
The day after the CMA Awards were held, "Before He Cheats" had a surge of digital downloads, reaching number 11 on iTunes top 100. As of April 2007, this single has sold 1,354,627 digital downloads, therefore, the single will be certified Platinum by the RIAA in coming weeks. Immediately following her win for Video of the Year at the CMT Awards in April 2007, "Before He Cheats" reached a new peak of #5 on iTunes.
Additionally, "Before He Cheats" received increased airplay on top 40 stations.
Music video
In the beginning of the music video Underwood is seen going out to a parking-lot with a Louisville Slugger to eventually damage her boyfriend's four-wheel drive for cheating on her. In other scenes, the "boyfriend" is seen kissing another woman. As the video progresses Underwood takes the stage to sing as various objects behind her, such as lamps, are seen exploding. At one point, a screen-shot of the front seat of the car is seen with Underwood's named carved in it, which she mentions during the chorus of the song. Towards the ending Underwood walks down a street, singing along with the song, while different objects are shown flying across the air, glasses are seen shattering, and light bulbs exploding. At the very end of the music video the car is shown completely destroyed.
Before He Cheats made GACTV music video history by debuting at #1. This was the first time a video hit #1 on the first week. It also marks the third consecutive #1 music video on GACTV for Underwood. It made history on CMT's Top Twenty Countdown for being at #1 for a consecutive 5 weeks. In December 2006, "Before He Cheats" was named the best video of 2006 by CMT's Top 20 Countdown. It also finished #2 in GACTV's Video of the Year for 2006 behind Trace Adkins's "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk". Proving it's cross-over success, the video made a debut at #15 on the VSpot Top 20 Countdown. And since it has surprisingly made it into the top 5.
The video was premiered on MTV's Total Request Live on April 2007, this is the second Country Genre video to be premiered in this program, the first being "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" by Jessica Simpson.
Chart performance
"Before He Cheats" was the third country single to be released from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts. Many stations started to put "Before He Cheats" into heavy rotation immediately following Jesus Take the Wheel without any word from the label confirming it as a future single. As a result of the "unofficial" airplay from some stations, the song was able to chart for 20 weeks on the Hot Country Songs chart, reaching #48 before being officially released. Once the song was confirmed as a single, it cracked the Top 40 on the country charts, and has since gone on to become Underwood's second #1 on the Billboard country charts. It is also her third Top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #11. On the 16th week of 2007, it reached new peak positions across many major charts including Hot 100. The song was added to Z100's playlist which is rare for a country song, due to the station not playing country songs, since then, it has been receiving heavy airplay on this radio station.
On the song's 34th week on the Hot 100 chart, it managed to reach a new peak of #11, and it is expected to keep rising, thanks to increased airplay and digital sales. The song broke the record for longest climb to #15 or higher on the Hot 100, taking 33 weeks to reach this position.[1] Before He Cheats became a surprise pop hit, climbing to new peaks across major charts in its 34th week on the chart. It was expected to make into the Top 10 of Hot 100 in the week of May 12 2007 but dropped to #14. Many speculate that the reason for the drop is that "Before he Cheats" was overshawdowed by her charity single "I'll Stand by You" which remained in the top 3 of the itunes daily chart the week beforehand, giving it a top ten debut. But the song is expected to rise once again as it is moving up the Top 100 songs of iTunes to a new peak of #7.
On April 16, 2007, the video for "Before He Cheats" swept the CMT Music Awards, winning 3 categories: Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and Director of the Year. Carrie Underwood made history by being the first female to win Video of the Year.
Charts
| Chart (2006 - 2007) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 11 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 | 10 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Airplay | 12 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs | 10 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 21 |
| U.S. Billboard Country Singles | 1 |
| Canadian Top 100 BDS | 18 |
| Canadian Country Singles | 1 |
| Mediabase Country Airplay Chart | 1 |
| United World Chart | 28 |
| VSpot Top 20 Countdown | 4 |
| Quaday Hot 100 Singles Philippines | 1 |
Succession
External links
- Music video at CMT.com
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Compilation albums | |
| Video albums | |
| Soundtrack albums | |
| Concert tours | |
